Clothes hangers for wash lines



Jan. 23, 1968 H. c. BUTSCHKAU CLOTHES HANGERS FOR WASH LINES Filed May 16, 1966 INVENTOR; v HAROLD c. BUTSCHKAU BY j a ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofiice 3,365,069 CLOTHES HANGERS FOR WASH LINES Harold (I. Butschkau, 71 Campbell Lane, East Isiip, NY. 11730 Filed May 16, 1966, Ser. No. 550,244 4 Claims. (Cl. 211-119.02)

This invention relates to clothes hangers for wash lines, and aims to provide novel and useful substitutes for socalled clothes pins together with means for protecting the hangers, when not being used, from deterioration due to weathering.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a novel clothes hanger in combination with an endless wash line wherein the weight of the hanging article is borne by the upper reach of the line while braking or locking means acts upon the lower reach thereby constraining the hanger against movement along the lower reach.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a pivotable protective shield or cover at the so-called house end of the line, within which the hangers are stored and confined.

The above as well as additional and more specific objects will be clarified in the following description wherein reference numerals refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawing is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and that it is therefore neither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily to the details shown or described except insofar as they may be deemed essential to the invention.

Referring briefly to the drawing,

FIG. 1 is a view, with parts broken away and partlyin section, of a clothes line, showing how the present invention is applied thereto.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the clothes hanger, showing fragmentarily the upper and lower reaches of the line extending therethrough.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1, with parts broken away and partly in section.

FIG. 4 is view taken on the sectional line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the hanger, again showing the upper and lower reaches of the clothes line.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 10 indicates a wash line trained about pulleys 11 and 12 thus providing the upper reach 13 and the lower reach 14. For the purpose of this description it will be assumed that the support 15 represents a house portion adjacent a window and that the support 16 represents a distant ole.

p The hangers 17 of FIG. 1 are all similar in construction and operation, and they are made in the form of an elongated hollow box-like structure having side walls 18, a roof 19, a shortened front wall 20 extending from the roof, and a rear wall 21 which is longer than the front wall and terminates in a fixed clamp jaw 22. Its complementary pivoted jaw is shown at 23, and both jaws are preferably provided with serrated surfaces, substantially as shown.

The jaw 23 is at the lower end of a approximately Z- shaped arm having a width equal to the width of the box and being pivoted in the following manner to the side walls 18. The upper part of the Z-shaped arm 24 is shown in a plane parallel to that of the jaw 23. At the lower edge of the part 25 spaced eyelets 26 are mounted. A U-shaped yoke 27 extends through these eyelets and its opposed legs 28 are provided with in-turned deformations 29 which extend through holes 30 in the side Walls 18. Thus the arm 24 is pivoted on the aligned axis of the eye- 3,365,069 Patented Jan. 23, 1368 lets 26. As is clear in FIG. 2, the member 24 has a width sufficiently less than the width of the box 17 to permit the part 25 thereof to move inward between the walls 18, when it is depressed inward.

A coiled spring 31 is anchored at one end to the rear wall 21 and has its other end 32 extending through a re duced opening 34 and secured to a button 33. Thus the spring normally urges the arm 24 to swing counter-clockwise, FIG. 5, about its pivot axis, that is, the yoke 27, to force the jaw 23 toward engagement with the jaw 22. Pushing the button in against the force of the spring cause the arm 24 to swing clockwise and hence to move the jaw 23 away from the jaw 22.

Relatively small aligned openings 35 are provided through the two side walls 18 of the box or housing 17, through which the upper reach 13 of the line 10 extends. Substantially larger aligned holes 36 extend through the said side walls below the holes 35, through which the lower reach 14 of the line passes. Fixed between the said side walls and between the two sets of holes 35, 36, as well as in the common plane through the four holes, is a block which is shown cylindrical in form at 37. This block is shown fixed to the said walls by pins 38.

Aligned longitudinal, or vertical, slots 39 are provided through the front wall 20 and the rear wall 21. A shaft 40 having a pulley 41 thereon, is slidably mounted in these slots and normally rests on the lower edges or ends thereof. A U-shaped bracket or cradle 42 is suspended from the shaft 40, with one leg of the U on each side of the pulley 41. As seen in FIG. 5 both reaches 13 and 14 of the line and the block 37 are contained between the legs of the cradle, and the latter has a length such that in the normal position of the shaft 40 shown in FIG. 5, the lower reach 14 registers within the rounded base 43 of the cradle.

Assuming that an article such as, for example, that shown at 44 in FIG. 1 has been suspended from the line 10 by engaging its upper edges betweenthe jaws 22, 23 in an obvious manner, the entire housing 17 will be drawn downward to raise the shaft 40 in each case to the upper ends of the slots 39, hence also raising the cradle 42 and pressing the lower reach 14 against the block 37. Normally, of course, when nothing is suspended from a hanger 17, the pulley 41 is ridably supported on the upper reach 13.

Thus the cradle, in rising within the housing, jams the lower reach 14, by raising it within the confines of the holes 36, against the block 37, whence the combination of the cradle and the block provides a brake which prevents the lower reach from longitudinal movement. This means, in effect, that the suspended article 44 cannot slide along the line 10. Hence, when the article 44 has been moved outward from the support 15 so that a second article may be suspended, the first article 44 moves along with the lower reach 14. FIGS. 4 and 5 show, in broken lines, the positions of the cradle, the pulley and the shaft 40 in their upper extreme positions.

FIG. 1 shows how the hangers 17 may be confined adjacent the support 15 when not in use, and protected from the weather. At 45 is shown a shield formed of two substantially rectangular side walls 46 and 47 spaced apart a distance, not specifically shown, slightly in excess of the maximum width of the housing plus the projections therefrom such as the button 33, joined along one edge by a strip 48 which, when the shield is swung down into the position shown in broken lines, becomes a roof over the hangers 17. At the outer extremity of the strip 48 a projection 49 extends between the two walls or plates 46 and 47 and serves, as shown in the broken line position, as a stop to keep the idle hangers confined within the shield. The two plates may be pivoted to opposite ends of the pivot 50 of the pulley 11, or otherwise pivoted that it may be swung from the position shown in full lines to that shown in phantom.

Thus a novel and useful improvement has been presented in hangers for wash lines, wherein the hangers cannot slip along the line as is frequently the case with ordinary clothes pins. Other advantages of the invention are: it is not necessary ever to remove the hangers from the clothes line; the hangers will resist corrosion, rust and rot and, since when not in use they are shielded they will not soil the wash; the hangers maintain the upper and lower reaches of the line close together so that the lower reach cannot sag and cause wash to contact the ground; the carrying of a number of hangers, for example, clothes pins in the hand while hanging wash is eliminated; and the hangers lend a neat appearance to the hanging wash.

Both the hangers and the shield 45 may be made of any suitable or desired material which it is obviously not necessary to discuss.

I claim:

1. In combination with the upper and lower reaches of an endless clothes line trained about two pulleys, a hanger consisting of an elongated housing in upright position having opposed side walls and opposed front and rear walls, the rear wall extending downward beyond the lower edge of the front wall and having a first clamp jaw fixed on the lower end thereof, a. moveable clamp member normally occupying a position between said lower edge of said front wall and said lower end of said rear wall and having at the lower end thereof a second clamp jaw complementary to and normally in engagement with said fixed jaw, pivot means pivotally attaching said moveable clamp member to said side walls, resilient means normally urging said moveable clamp member into said normal position thereof and hence said second jaw into engagement with said fixed jaw, said side walls having a first pair of relatively small mutually aligned holes therein near. the upper portion thereof through which said upper reach extends, said side walls having a second pair of relatively large mutually aligned holes therein positioned below said first pair of holes through which said lower reach extends, mutually aligned longitudinal slots in said front and rear walls extending upward from a position above said first pair of holes, a shaft slidably mounted in said slots and having a pulley thereon normally resting ridably on said upper reach, a block supported between said side walls in a common vertical lane with said pairs of holes and positioned between said pairs of holes, and a U-shaped carriage ineluding a base and upwardly extending legs suspended from said shaft on opposite sides of said last-named pulley, said lower reach registering in said base, said reaches and said block being positioned between said legs.

2. A combination according to claim 1, said moveable clamp member being approximately Z-shaped in longitudinal section and consisting of an upper part normally lying in the plane of said front wall and a lower part normally parallel with and in engagement with said rear wall and an intermediate part extending at an angle between said upper and lower parts thereof, the pivot axis of said pivot means being positioned on the lower edge of said upper part of said member, said resilient means comprising a coiled spring mounted between said upper part of said member and said rear wall normally urging said upper part outward with respect to said rear wall.

3. A combination according to claim 2, said upper part of said member having a hole therein of smaller diameter than the diameter of said spring, said spring having one end thereof fixed to said rear wall and having the other end thereof extending through said last-named hole, a button positioned on the outside of said upper part of said member and having said other end of said spring secured thereto.

4. A combination according to claim 1, one of said two pulleys having a shield pivotally mounted thereon coaxial therewith, said shield consisting of two approximately rectangular mutually parallel plates spaced apart a distance slightly in excess of the maximum distance between the front and back of said hanger and joined along the normally top edges thereof by a strip which provides a roof over the hanger, said shield being pivotable upward from a normal lowered position wherein said root rests on the top of said hanger and said plates extend downward on both sides of the hanger to a raised position in which the hanger may be manually moved outward from under said roof, said roof having a downward projection on the normally forward edge thereof serving as a stop to prevent the hanger from moving outward from the shield.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,861,282 5/1932 Nelson 21 1--1l9.02 2,016,873 10/1935 Potts et al 2l1119.02 2,586,632 2/1952 Esposito 211l19.02

ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

W. D. LOULAN, Examiner. 

1. IN COMBUSTION WITH THE UPPER AND LOWER REACHES OF AN ENDLESS CLOTHES LINE TRAINED ABOUT TWO PULLEYS, A HANGER CONSISTING OF AN ELONGATED HOUSING IN UPRIGHT POSITION HAVING SIDE WALLS AND OPPOSED FRONT AND REAR WALLS, THE REAR WALL EXTENDING DOWNWARD BEYOND THE LOWER EDGE OF THE FRONT WALL AND HAVING A FIRST CLAMP JAW FIXED ON THE LOWER END THEREOF, A MOVEABLE CLAMP MEMBER NORMALLY OCCUPYING A POSITION BETWEEN SAID LOWER EDGE OF SAID FRONT WALL AND SAID LOWER END OF SAID REAR WALL AND HAVING AT THE LOWER END THEREOF AND SECOND CLAMP JAW COMPLEMENTARY TO AND NORMALLY IN ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID FIXED JAW, PIVOT MEANS PIVOTALLY ATTACHING SAID MOVEABLE CLAMP MEMBER TO SAID SIDE WALLS, RESILIENT MEANS NORMALLY URGING SAID MOVEABLE CLAMP MEMBER INTO SAID NORMAL POSITION THEREOF AND HENCE SAID SECOND JAW INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID FIXED JAW, SAID SIDE WALLS HAVING A FIRST PAIR OF RELATIVELY SMALL MUTUALLY ALIGNED HOLES THEREIN NEAR THE UPPER PORTION THEREOF THROUGH WHICH SAID UPPER REACH EXTENDS, SAID SIDE WALLS HAVING A SECOND PAIR OF RELATIVELY LARGE MUTUALLY ALIGNED HOLES THEREIN POSITIONED BELOW SAID FIRST PAIR OF HOLES THROUGH WHICH SAID LOWER REACH EXTENDS, MUTUALLY ALIGNED LONGITUDINAL SLOTS IN SAID FRONT AND REAR WALLS EXTENDING UPWARD FROM A POSITION ABOVE SAID FIRST PAIR OF HOLES, A SHAFT SLIDABLY MOUNTED IN SAID SLOTS AND HAVING A PULLEY THEREON NORMALLY RESTING RIDABLY ON SAID UPPER REACH, A BLOCK SUPPORTED BETWEEN SAID SIDE WALLS IN A COMMON VERTICAL LANE WITH SAID PAIRS OF HOLES AND POSITIONED BETWEEN SAID PAIRS OF HOLES, AND A U-SHAPED CARRIAGE INCLUDING A BASE AND UPWARDLY EXTENDING LEGS SUSPENDED FROM SAID SHAFT ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID LAST-NAMED PULLEY, SAID LOWER REACH REGISTERING IN SAID BASE, SAID REACHES AND SAID BLOCK BEING POSITIONED BETWEEN SAID LEGS. 